| Platycopiidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Platycopia perplexa | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Copepoda |
| Infraclass: | Progymnoplea Lang, 1948 |
| Order: | Platycopioida Fosshagen, 1985 |
| Family: | Platycopiidae G. O. Sars, 1911 |
| Genera | |
| |
Platycopiidae is afamily ofcopepods. Until the description ofNanocopia in 1988, it contained the single genusPlatycopia.[1] It now contains four genera, three of which aremonotypic; the exception isPlatycopia, with 8 species.
The family Platycopiidae was erected byGeorg Ossian Sars when he described the new speciesP. perplexa, and included it in the orderCalanoida.[2] In 1948,Karl Georg Herman Lang erected a new suborder,Progymnoplea, for the family, and in 1985, Audun Fosshagen & Thomas Iliffe created the orderPlatycopioida to contain the Platycopiidae, initially placed alongside Calanoida in the superorderGymnoplea.[2] Most recently, Huys & Boxshall inferred that Platycopiidae was the earliest branching copepod lineage, making it thesister taxon to all other copepods; they therefore raised Progymnoplea to therank of infraclass, to accommodate Platycopioida alone, with all other copepods being placed in theNeocopepoda.[2]
Members of the Platycopiidae have a primitive form, thought to be similar to themost recent common ancestor of all copepods. Fewsynapormorphies have been found to unite the family, but they include the presence of a second dorsalseta (hair) on particular segments of the legs.[3] They share withcalanoid copepods the possession of Von Vaupel Klein's organ, asensory organ near the base of the first swimming leg.[3]
Antrisocopia prehensilisFosshagen, 1985 is acritically endangered species from alimestoneanchialinecave inBermuda, known from only five mature specimens.[4]
Nanocopia minutaFosshagen, 1988 is a critically endangered species from the same anchialine cave asAntrisocopia, and is known from only two specimens.[5]
Sarsicopia polarisMartínez Arbizu, 1997 was collected in 1993 from a depth of 534 metres (1,752 ft) in theBarents Sea.[2]
Platycopia comprises eight species, distributed in theNorth Sea, theeastern seaboard ofNorth America, theBahamas,Mauritania andJapan.[2] The first species to be described wasP. perplexa, named byGeorg Ossian Sars in 1911.[2]
